What magic item do you think is utterly indispensable?

[Jenara]

This was ummm... borrowed from somewhere else...

What magic item do you think you can't do without? Doesn't have to be all powerful, just something you think every PC's need....

Edition doesn't matter, suprise me with something new.

To start you off:

Ring of sustenance...

[BryantTheSwordsman]

Cloak of Elvenkind

these make it so much easier to past sentries and other dangerous positions.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Immovable Rod. Its hard to get more versatile than an Immovable Rod.

[phindar]

Depending on the edition, and once you get past a certain level, you need a magic weapon to hit certain monsters.

[SightblinderX]

healing potions.

[ChaosImp]

Portable Loo.

I gave the party one of these a while back and they loved it as besides having a toilet it had a shower and sauna. It appeared to be a small rectangular box with a small door with a crescent moon on the front. Once per day with a command word it became full size and when the door was opened there was a 40'x40' bathroom. They said it was one of the best magic items they had.

Cheers
Imp

[Stik]

None.
Magic items are the spice, not the meat.
While any item is nice to have, no particular item is absolutely necessary.

[Jenara]

None.
Magic items are the spice, not the meat.
While any item is nice to have, no particular item is absolutely necessary.

Good point very well made...

But if you had to choose, what would it be?

[Stik]

Probably the most useful item would be a Ring of Regeneration. It makes you more resilient in combat and can be passed around when the party rests so that everyone can get some healing in.
Who wouldn't want an item which can bring the average fifth-level party back up from single digits to full hit points literally overnight?

[Ismaels-Legacy]

Ever-burning Torch!

[Jenara]

Ever-burning Torch!

Isn't that pretty defunct when you get a reasonable magic weapon? don't have my books at hand but once you get a +2 weapon it produces light doesn't it?

Still... cool item, has tons of handy uses.

[Jenara]

Depending on the edition, and once you get past a certain level, you need a magic weapon to hit certain monsters.

Interesting thought Phin... What if it wasn't a weapon? what else could you think of?

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Assuming you don't have your weapon enchanted specifically to produce light (which I would prefer my sturdy shield to do. "Hey! Shoot the light!" *Thunk!*) its a random attribute. And sometimes only works in some situations (like Bilbo's Sting from The Hobbit).

[phindar]

Giving it a little thought, I think the indispensible item comes down to what your character can do, and who's in the party. If you don't have access to healing spells, the Ring of Regeneration or the Bracers of Vampiric Regeneration become things you almost can't do without. If you or someone else in the party is playing a dedicated healer, these items become a lot less important.

Then, there are some items that "make" the character. While I agree with Stik upthread who said that items are the spice, not the meat, at the same time, sometimes it's the item that sells the look of the character. A friend of mine has a character that he really enjoys playing that is based partially off the "Lightning" character in "Big Trouble in Little China". He's played a version of him in 3.5 and 4e. In 4e he took exploits that let him jump around and fly on lightning, but in 3.5 he got those abilities through items.

That said, I think the items that are most needed are armor class boosters, because the ability to hit things goes up faster than the ability to not be hit by things, and the not getting hit relies most heavily on gear, magical or not. (4e is the exception, where the ability to hit and the ability to get missed scales exactly the same, at +1 every other level.) If you don't have something that boosts your AC, you eventually get to a level where you won't get missed.

[Serian]

Decanter of Endless Water
No matter where you go, you need clean drinking water, and at 8 pounds per gallon plus the containers, it gets awful heavy to carry it along and unreliable to depend on the environment or a cleric to provide.